Personal Property
by Russian Blue Witch
Summary: The heavier-handed sequel to Psychedelic. See my profile for full description.
1. Prologue

**Personal Property**

**A who-knows-how-many part story by RBW**

**Prologue**

A woman in a simple black dress rested on a rock at the edge of a clear blue lake. She wasn't _very_ old but she looked old. Her hair was soft and grey, not from age, but because she was born that way. She was thinking very hard.

Her family sat only a few feet away. It had been a long time since they'd been together. Everyone had been so busy.

Venerra liked this place. There was so much magic in the air. She was a sorceress, you see, and she was training her daughter to be one too. So far Laurel wasn't very good and she had to rely on her Sian to do magic. But that was no matter.

Her husband was also magic, but he wasn't a sorcerer. He was a mage, and mages only know a few very powerful spells. Quarr, which was the mage's name, could only turn people into stone. But that was very useful.

Venerra remembered the reason she was going on this stupid quest in the first place. I told you that Venerra wasn't old. She was about fifty, which might be old to you but wasn't that old to the sorceress' family. But to Venerra that was too old.

That was why she was on this quest.

Venerra sensed a teleporting spell but she didn't try to see who it was.

"Hello. What are you doing here?"

Venerra turned around and saw a tall woman in a form-hugging violet dress. Her hair was short and purple, and on her head was a thick gold circlet with a jade stone in the front. Her eyes were an emerald green.

Venerra was surprised but also pleasantly pleased. This was Freya, honored as goddess of the world by her family.

"I'm going to reclaim my own," She said.

Freya nodded. "So am I." She turned her beautifully pale face toward the stars. "Maybe we could travel together. You might want some assistance." Her voice had a hint of prophecy to it.

Venerra smiled. "I would like that.


	2. Kiddnapping

**Part one: Kidnapping**

**Or: **_**Why **_**Did We Trade Brock for Sketchit Again?**

"C'mon, Sketchit," Ash said impatiently. "Who wants to draw a Slowpoke anyway?"

"Oh, Ash, give him a break!" Misty said grumpily. She was equally impatient but a little more considerate than her traveling companion.

Tracey Sketchit looked up from his drawing. "I'll be done in a minute," he sighed.

Ash bent over and looked at the unfinished drawing. "A minute! You've only drawn the back legs and we've been here ten minutes! Can't you-"

Suddenly a boy ran up, panting. "Are you… Ash and Misty… there's… a phone call…"

"Do we know you?" Misty asked.

"No," the young teenager, getting his breath back. "Someone called me on a pay phone and asked if I knew where Ash and Misty were. I'd seen your picture in the paper after you won that contest, so I knew you were nearby… I told her I'd try and find you."

"Who was it?" Ash asked, his curiosity perked.

"A woman, Professor Ivy I think. She's still on the phone if you want to talk to her."

"Oh, Ash, maybe it's Brock!" Misty said. "Let's go!"

"But what about my Slowpoke drawing?" Tracey half-whined.

"You're the slowpoke. Come on!" Ash shouted.

* * *

"Why do you get to talk to her?" Misty asked.

"Because I'm the star. Hush up," Ash said. "Hello? Professor Ivy?"

"Hello…? Ash?"

"Yes, this is Ash speaking," Ash said. "How's Brock?"

Professor Ivy didn't answer the question for a minute. When she spoke her voice was deeply concerned.

"Brock has been kidnapped."

"_Kidnapped?_"

Misty grabbed the phone away from Ash. "Hello? Professor?"

"Misty?"

"Who got kidnapped?"

"Brock."

"_Brock?_"

"You're keeping me in too much torment!" Tracey shouted. He grabbed the phone. "Hello?"

"Who is this?"

"I'm Tracey Sketchit, Brock's replacement."

"_What?_"

"We're using too many italics and question marks." Said Ash.

"How about you catch the 3:00 blimp and head over here?" Professor Ivy asked.

"Okay. See you soon!"

* * *

"Why wasn't it this easy to get to Valencia before?" Ash asked.

"Valencia's closer to here than it was to there, and we didn't have someone paying for a first class blimp ticket last time," Misty replied.

Tracey was looking for flying Pokémon to sketch.

"Will we be there soon?" Ash asked the flight attendant.

"In about half an hour," the woman replied.

"Hey! There's a Spearow!" Tracey shouted excitedly. But as soon as he got his sketch pad out it vanished.

"Maybe it can't stand you either," Ash joked.

"Ash! That's not funny," Misty said angrily.

"We will be landing in fifteen seconds. Please fasten your seat belts- oops, too late, we landed," said the pilot.

* * *

Shortly after, Ash knocked on the door of Professor Ivy's laboratory. The door flung open almost instantly. "Come in, come in," Professor Ivy urged.

"Do you have any suspects?" Tracey asked, allowing his sketch pad to serve double-duty as one of the notepads no detective goes without.

"Not really," Professor Ivy said. "Only that whoever it is seems to be involved in statuary. Some of the Pokémon were missing, and the thieves for some reason left some statues looking just like the missing Pokémon. Maybe they thought I was a doofus."

"Could you tell us what happened?" Misty asked.

"Sure. Hope, Faith, and Charity all went on vacation, and this is tax season."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Tracey asked, his pencil point snapping.

"So I was busy with paperwork and that left Brock to feed the Pokémon alone. Except Brock never returned…" Professor Ivy rubbed her eye as though she were considering crying.

"What did the Pokémon say?" Ash asked

"The Pokémon? I never thought of asking them," The professor admitted.

"Can you understand any of them?" Ash pressed.

"No, not really."

"Then Pikachu will translate for us!"

"Okay, but have some dinner in the meantime."

Pokémon language relies quite a bit on body language, since basically all it is is a few syllables repeated in different combinations. Also, if you ask a Pokémon to tell you what happened at a certain time, whereas a human would say, "Mewtwo attacked us!" A Pokémon would tell you, "This big purple creature came from the sky and told us he wanted to copy our data, so my trainer told him, 'no way!' and then Pidgy here added, 'you'll never defeat us!' and I…"

So it took a very long time for all the Pokémon to stop interrupting each other and finish the story. The four humans were in agony the whole time as they watched the Pokémon fall flat on their faces and make screaming noises in an attempt to communicate. It was like watching a movie without sound.

Finally Pikachu had heard the whole thing and told Ash. When Ash had heard the whole thing, he told Misty, Tracey, and Professor Ivy.

"Venerra and Laurel kidnapped Brock."


	3. Tyrren Forest

**Part two: Tyrren Forest**

**Or: Jaaaames, I Am Your Great-Great-Whatever Grandmother…**

"Who?" Tracey and Professor Ivy asked at the same time.

Ash ignored them. "Apparently Venerra was mad about something; she talked so fast no one could understand her. Then this man who was with them began turning Pokémon into stone."

"Ha ha, like we'll believe-" Tracey began, but Misty shushed him.

"Then Brock gave up. Then they all left."

"This is about the mirror!" Misty half-cried. "Venerra said she thought Brock was still hers!"

"What mirror?" Professor Ivy asked.

"Who's Venerra and who's Laurel?" Tracey asked.

It took a long time to explain everything to Tracey's satisfaction. Then they had to convince him they weren't joking.

"How did they leave?" Misty asked.

"Pikachu says Vileplume says Venerra said something about taking the rescue."

"What does that mean?" Tracey asked, his pencil point snapping again.

"The _Rescue _is a ship that left for Tyrren forest at five o'clock the day Brock went missing," The young woman said.

"Is there another ship going to tyranny forest today?" Tracey asked.

"_Tyrren _forest. And no, but I'll let you borrow my motorboat."

"You have a motorboat?" Misty asked.

"Sure. Doesn't everyone?"

"But they have a head start," said Ash. "We have to hurry if we want to find them."

* * *

Shortly after docking at a small town on the outskirts of the forest, Ash, Misty, and Tracey wandered around asking people if they'd seen a young woman with a Sian or an old-looking woman or a man with a deep gray beard and midnight blue robes or a boy with short spiky brown hair. Meeting back at the clock tower, Tracey reported he'd had no luck. Ash hadn't either.

"I met an innkeeper who said they stayed at her hotel and then checked out earlier today. They said they'd be heading to Pentangle Hideaway," Misty reported.

"Tyranny forest, Pentagon hideaway, who names these places?" Tracey asked.

"_Tyrren _forest and _Pentangle _Hideaway," Ash corrected. "What's Pentangle Hideaway?"

"It's a hollow in the middle of the forest," Misty said. "It's said to have high concentrations of magic in it."

"That makes sense, sort of," said Tracey. "I mean, Venerra's a sorceress, right?"

"If they only checked out this morning we might have a chance to catch up!" Misty exclaimed. "Let's hurry!"

Ash, Misty, and Tracey marched through the forest, unaware that they were being watched…

* * *

"Wonder what they're doing all the way out here?" James wondered aloud. "There's no gym, few Pokémon, and we didn't trick them into coming here so we could steal their Pokémon."

"People go places for other reasons, I guess," Jessie shrugged.

"We're losing them!" Meowth complained. "Pick up the pace!"

"If we get any closer they'll see us," Jessie explained.

"Yeah, but we can't see them!"

Suddenly an enormous battle-ax buried itself in a tree, just missing James' head.

Everyone jumped.

"Oh, sorry," said a woman, wrenching her ax out of the tree. "Thought you were someone else."

She didn't look like the type of woman to go around murdering people. She was pretty wearing her deep blue dress, which was simple but lovely. Her hair was long and deep blue. Her battle-ax was as tall as she was, and it gleamed like silver. In the handle near the ax head, three aquamarine gems as big as walnuts were set deep into the shining metal.

By her side was what looked like a blue tiger with short fur. Its fur swayed like a breeze was constantly swirling it into different patterns. It was large enough and strong enough to ride like a pony, only this was no pony.

"What happened, Mara?"

Another woman with an almost identical battle-ax stepped out from behind a tree. She was the same height and her hair was the same length as the first woman, but other than that they had little in common. Her hair was a fiery red, somewhere between Misty-red and Jessie-red, and it hung in long waves. Her dress was as red as her hair. The gems in her battle ax were rubies.

Beside her was a giant bird, large enough to ride on. Each feather was a tongue of flame, some yellow, some blue, but mostly orange.

"Almost killed this man by accident. Thought he was-" She broke off and whispered something very softly. "But I was wrong. So they're cleared, right?"

"Of course not!" The fiery woman screamed. "Now they've seen us! And besides, he's-" She broke off and whispered something else.

"So what? Freya doesn't keep track of her-"

"When will it get through your thick head that we can't trust _anyone_? Do you want our sister after us?"

"No, but-"

"Then stop letting people see us!"

Mara bit her lip. Then she made her decision. "I'll get the mind-mist."

"Ran out last week. Don't you pay attention?"

"Then what will we do?"

"What you almost accidently did."

She whirled around, weapon ready, but Team Rocket was nowhere to be seen.

Undaunted, she turned to her flaming bird. "Ready for a little human hunting?" She asked.

* * *

"How are we supposed to know if we're getting closer to them or not?" Tracey asked. He was feeling very bugged, both literarily and figuratively. Mosquitoes were everywhere.

"We should see signs that someone's been here before," Ash said. "Like broken branches or discarded soda cans-"

"If we see a soda can," Misty mused, "We _know _we're going the wrong way. Can you imagine Laurel drinking Dr. Pepper?"

That got a laugh.

"I don't know what Laurel looks like!" Tracey shouted. "How am I supposed to imagine her drinking Dr. Pepper if I-"

Suddenly a woman rode in on what looked like a blue tiger.

"Hi!" She shouted cheerfully. "Have you seen two adults with weird hair and a Meowth go by?"

A fiery bird dove down from the sky, setting the dry grass on fire.

Ash, bewildered, could only point his Pokedex at each animal in turn.

"Aquatiger (a-QWA-ti-gir) - A water-type Pokémon. Aquatigers appear to be made of water but have real fangs and real fur. Their jaws can crush bones and are extremely powerful against fire-type Pokémon."

"Firoenix (fire-EEE-nix) – A fire-flying-type Pokémon. Firoenixes are extremely good flyers and can carry a grown human on its back."

"Wow," Ash whispered.

"How many times have I told you not to talk to strangers?" The woman on the Firoenix roared.

"I couldn't find them, so I thought-"

"Now we have to kill them too! Honestly, what are you thinking…?"

"Kill?" Tracey whimpered.

Mara gave the young boy an I'm-so-sorry-but-it-must-be-done look. "I wish we didn't have to kill or brainwash whoever we meet."

"Then don't ask for directions!"

"May I ask why you want to kill us?" Misty demanded.

"Because Pyra here thinks that everybody is a spy for Freya."

"Everyone could be!"

"Who's Freya?" Tracey asked.

"If we don't kill them, how do we know they won't tell Freya our location?"

"Because we say we won't," Misty said.

"And how can we trust you? We couldn't trust Freya!"

"Who's Freya?" Tracey asked.

"Py-_ra_!" Mara whined. "Give them a chance!"

The fiery woman seemed to consider it. "All right. I'll let you go free. But if you tell Freya..."

"Who's Frey-" Tracey was jerked of his feet as Pyra held him by the shirt collar with her ax to his neck.

"If you tell Freya I will not rest until I have personally made sure your head and body have parted company." She threw the boy to the ground and mounted her Pokémon. "Tell those other punks that we do the same for them!"

Both she and her sister were off with a whoosh of wings and the crackle of leaves.

"Team Rocket would be here," Ash moaned. "Can't they get off our backs for ten seconds?"

"They've been off our backs for the past few days," Misty said. "Count your blessings."

"_I _think that's a waste of time," Jessie said, coming up behind them. "To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite-"

James broke off mid-motto as Pikachu thundershocked them.

"Were you the 'punks' that fire-woman mentioned?" Tracey interrogated.

"We're not punks!" Jessie snapped indignantly.

"Well if you were," Misty said, "She says that if you tell Freya where they are, she, 'won't rest until she has personally made sure your head and body have parted company.'"

Normally Team Rocket would have been inclined to disbelieve her, but having already met Pyra, they didn't think it sounded too far beyond her. Instead Meowth asked who Freya was.

"I asked about ten times but she didn't say," Tracey said.

"Enough chit-chat," Ash declared. "Go, Pikachu!"

Pikachu readied himself.

"Ekans!" Jessie cried, hurling her Pokéball.

"Koffing!" James added.

"Pikachu, thundershock!"

The yellow rat obliged, but he over did it, filling the whole clearing with electricity. Ekans was knocked out, Koffing crashed to the ground, James collapsed, Jessie fell back against the tree behind her, Meowth swayed, Misty's hair stood on end, Tracey's notebook was fried, and even Ash was hurt. After doing so much damage, Pikachu was unsteady.

"Pikachu!" Ash commanded. "Finish this up- a little more gently!"

"No! We give!" Jessie said softly.

But Ash didn't hear her. "Pika-"

Suddenly there was a deafening bang like a firework and a brilliant blaze of light. When it faded, there stood a tall woman, maybe seven and a half feet, with short purple hair.

In other words, a taller, more feminine version of James.

"In case you didn't hear, mister wise-guy, they gave up." She gave Ash an evil stare. "The match is over. You won. Go home before I decide to obliterate you."

Tracey, not understanding the seriousness of the situation, dumbly asked, "Are you Team Rocket's guardian angel?"

If anything, the mysterious woman was even more furious than before. "I may be many things, but I'm no angel. Most powerful being, master of the elements, ruler of all living beings, murderer, goddess of all the earth, Freya the magnificent, but absolutely _not _an angel."

Misty and Ash exchanged looks.

"But why are you here? Why are you taking their side?" Ash pressed.

"If your great-great…" She trailed off, looked confused, and then brushed it aside. "Your great-great-whatever grandson was alive when you were, then you'd save him too."

"Then why didn't you save him the other hundred times he needed you?" Misty demanded.

"Well I have better things to do than trail after snobbish little- wait, hundred other times?" She asked, her expression becoming concerned. "Is that a literal figure?"

"Hello! You can ask me, you know!" James shouted.

Freya ignored him. "And does he typically… well, come close to succeeding and then fail?"

"Countless times," Ash half-smiled.

The so-called goddess screamed up at the sky, "Why does this have to happen to me? Why me?"

"Why-you what?" Jessie asked.

But Freya calmed down and forgot they'd ever had such a discussion. "Well, I'd better return. There's this family I'm helping get to Pentangle Hideaway and I should return. But before I go-"

"What family?" Tracey asked excitedly.

"A _respectable _family. _They _know not to interrupt the Goddess of All Living Things." She gave Tracey a hard stare. "Before I go, have you seen a woman with dark blue hair, a blue dress, and an Aquatiger, or a woman with red hair, a red dress, and a Firoenix, or a woman with black hair, a sparkly white dress, and a Cyce?"

"A Cyce?" Ash asked. He checked his Pokedex. It looked like a white-furred rabbit with glowing red eyes, no ears, a white sparkly tail and a thick purple-blue ruff around its neck.

"Cyce- an ice-type Pokémon. Cyces' tails absorb projectile attacks and their breath freezes on contact."

"Yes. Have you seen any of them?"

Ash and Misty shook their heads no in unison. For a minute Ash was afraid Team Rocket would give it away, but they must have remembered Pyra's fiery threat, because they said no too.

Freya nodded solemnly. "So, my dear sisters shut you up. We can do this the easy way, or we can do it the hard way. Which will it be?"

Suddenly Ash's brain hurt, as though a vicious creature with long claws was tearing through his mind, occasionally ripping out memories to look at. When this happened, Ash remembered the event as though it was happening right then. Ash closed his eyes, trying to shut out the creature, but it didn't help. Finally he tried to ignore the flashbacks and think of nothing but brick walls.

It worked. The whatever-it-was stopped and Freya looked annoyed. She turned on Misty next.

Misty screamed softly but soon succeeded in driving Freya back.

Freya whirled around. First she looked at James, but then shook her head and went for Meowth.

A second later, however, she reeled back, clutching her head. "You're supposed to think of walls!" She shouted indignantly. "Not land mines!"

"All's fair in love and war," Meowth retorted, rubbing between his ears. "And this ain't love!"

"You could have caused permanent mental damage for both of us!" Freya shouted. She looked at Jessie, but obviously decided it wasn't worth the effort. She raised her hands to summon the teleporting spell, but something made her stop. She lowered her arms and smiled.

Everyone followed her gaze.

Tracey was flipping through the blackened pages of his notebook, seeing what he could salvage. He turned to a partially-burnt picture of a Firoenix.

For a minute, Freya stood still. Then she raised her arms once more. "Thank you, Sketchit," She laughed wickedly. Once more there was a bang and a flash of light, and she vanished.


	4. Sorcery, etc

**Part three: Sorcery, etc.**

**Or: No Curing the Dead Allowed**

"Way to go, Sketchit!" Ash shouted.

Tracey looked up from his notebook and smiled. "Oh, good. I was afraid I'd done something wrong." He laughed weakly at Ash's stare of disbelief. "No, just kidding. Gallows humor."

"Great," James muttered darkly. "Now I'm stuck in a Star-Wars rip off. 'Jaaaaaa-mes, I am your great-great-whatever grandmother…"

"Why do you think she still alive?" Misty wondered aloud.

"She's a 'goddess'," Ash shrugged. "Probably someone from the loony bin."

"People from the loony bin don't teleport," Tracey shivered.

"Well, let's go already!" Misty said. "That family Freya's helping may be Venerra and Laurel. She said they were close by! Let's go!"

"Laurel!" Meowth spluttered. "Revenge isn't _that _sweet!"

"We're not going for revenge," Ash shouted as he ran after Misty, "We're going to stop it!"

* * *

Night fell before an hour had passed. Reluctantly, Misty agreed to rest.

"I mean, they don't know they're being followed," Tracey reasoned. "Why would they travel through the night if they thought they had plenty of time?"

Ash agreed to a rest, but secretly planned to stay awake and look out for Pyra or Freya. However, he didn't realize how tired he was.

Ash woke early in the morning to a snapping branch. Jerking awake, he listened for some other sound. There was another loud crack.

"Cut that out," an old-sounding, male voice said. "Don't think I don't know what you're doing."

"What is he doing?"

Ash snapped to attention. The person asking the question was Laurel!

"Nothing," said Brock's voice.

"No; you still haven't given hope that someone's following us." Venerra's voice.

Ash got up and moved closer to the voices. Then, reaching a large tree with low branches, climbed up to get a better view.

A large clearing stood just a few feet away. A large cliff split the clearing in two. Standing near the drop off were Venerra, Laurel, Sian, and Brock. There was also a man that Ash guessed must be Laurel's father. He looked like he was dressing as Merlin for Halloween, except none of his clothes had silver stars on them. In one hand he held a long golden staff, topped with a crescent moon. Where the 'dark side of the moon' would have been was an enormous dark blue gemstone, carved into a perfect sphere.

"But I thought the plan was for someone to-" Laurel broke off as her parents gave her nasty looks.

"Plan was to what?" Brock asked, fully knowing he'd get no answer.

"If I wanted you to know I would have told you!" The gray-haired sorceress snapped.

Ash leaned closer, but the branch creaked under his weight. Leaning back quickly, he wondered if anyone had noticed.

Sian looked up. "What was that?"

Laurel shrugged and laughed nervously. "Just a bird."

"Maybe," Venerra said. "And maybe it's a rat!"

She raised her fist and an orange light corkscrewed towards the Pokémon trainer. Then, as it made contact, she smiled wickedly and yanked her fist backward.

Ash flew out of the tree and struck the woman harder than she'd meant to pull. Both of them fell over the edge of the cliff.

Venerra caught hold of the precipice and Ash caught hold of her dress. The tough fabric held, but for how long? They were about ten feet from the ground, and the bottom was rocky.

"Ash!" Brock shouted, starting forward.

"You stay back!" Quarr shouted, barring Brock's way with his staff.

"Hello!" Venerra screamed. "Might you consider helping me sometime this century?"

Laurel reached down for her mother's hand.

"Not with this hitchhiker! Get rid of him first!"

The young woman reeled back. "But I thought the plan was-"

"What if I miss?" Quarr demanded.

"My magic shoots out in _broad beams_," Sian half-whimpered.

"I'd mess up! I know I would!" Laurel clutched her chest.

"Must I do everything myself?" Venerra raised her hand and quickly clutched the cliff edge again. Sighing, she resorted to a motionless spell. That took even more concentration than the normal kind, but she focused on an image of a sword. These summoning spells usually worked. But to her annoyance, what appeared was an enormous pin, almost six inches in length. Venerra sighed. It would have to do. Concentrating hard, she made the pin jab at Ash's hands. Soft cries told her she'd made contact. Then a louder shout as the weight on her dress fell away. Then a loud thump.

"Ash!" Brock shouted again.

"You can give me your hand now, Laurel," Venerra said.

"This wasn't the plan!" Laurel's voice wound up into a shriek.

"That's what you think," her dad replied.

"Who cares what the plan was?" her mom added. "The ends justify the means."

At first, the girl looked like she might object, but then she closed her lips tight and nodded robotically.

"Let's go already," Sian urged. "The waterfall isn't far away."

* * *

Pikachu woke up, wondering where Ash was. He stood up, deciding to look for a few minutes before Misty and Tracey woke up.

* * *

Tracey twitched. He'd been having a wonderful dream where one of those Fireonixes flew down and let him draw a picture of it.

He twitched again. Someone was yanking his hair.

He blinked his eyes open. Pikachu was staring at him with pleading eyes.

"Go back to sleep," He muttered.

But Pikachu persisted.

"Fine, fine, I'll get up," Tracey moaned.

Pikachu ran off into the forest.

"Pikachu!" Tracey scolded. "I can't play tag now. Go to sleep. Pikachu?" He followed the yellow rat into the clearing. "Pikachu-" He caught sight of the bottom of the cliff. "Oh, no," He whispered.

There was a small ledge halfway down the cliff's side. The two of them jumped down onto that ledge and then to the ground where Ash was. Although rocks were scattered everywhere, here and there grass managed to grow. Tracey, wandering through a particularly thick patch, tripped over a smooth, brown rock.

The rock stood up, revealing a black body, small golden legs, and gleaming red eyes.

A Kabuto.

The brown shell moved towards Tracey. In a low voice he announced, "I am Kabuton, miracle curer and expert physician. No curing the dead allowed."

"Can you cure Ash?" Tracey asked, wondering if Ash was dead or not.

"For the right price."

Pikachu sobered up. "Pikachu chu. (We don't have any money.)"

"I don't take money. I take whatever seems fair to me. What do you have?"

"Well…" Tracey looked down at his sketchpad. "Torched Pokémon pictures?"

"Let me see." Kabuton carefully turned page after page. Finally he reached blank space. "Do you have a pencil?" He asked.

"Yeah, of course." Tracey pulled out his special sketching pencil.

"I'll take these," the Pokémon said, pulling the sketchpad and pencil toward himself.

"Not my sketchpad!"

"You want me to cure your friend or not?"

The boy sighed. For a moment no one said anything.

"Keep it. Just help Ash." Tracey said softly.

Kabuton poured a final drop of oil on the last of Ash's wounds. The boy's breathing became steadier.

"The job is done. Maybe I'll see you elsewhere." The Kabuto dropped to the ground and resembled a rock once again.

Ash stirred. His eyes opened blearily. "Tracey? Am I alive? Or are we both dead?"

The question caught Tracey off guard. "I- I think you're alive."

Ash's brain started working correctly. "How did I survive that fall? With no injuries?"

Tracey smiled weakly. "I guess you got really lucky."

"How'd you get down here?"

"Pikachu led me here."

"Where's your sketchpad?"

Tracey dodged the question. "How'd you fall off the cliff anyway?"

"Venerra. Venerra! Let's hurry; we've got to catch them!"

* * *

"Well, here we are," Venerra stuck her hand into the waterfall and felt the cool water splash over her fingers. Pentangle Hideaway was surrounding by enormous trees with branches stretching over the clearing, blocking out the sun. Strange plants that grew nowhere else in the world stretched their leaves to soak up what little light there was. The waterfall spilled over a cliff and into a shallow pool, which was kept from flooding by thirsty plants surrounding it.

Venerra took a stick and drew a five pointed star in the dirt. Then she drew three more.

"Should I put stars for the 'emergency batteries'?" She asked her husband.

He shrugged. "I don't think so. As it is we don't have enough people."

"Get your dancing slippers on," Sian hissed to Laurel.

Suddenly there was another bang and flash of light.

"You sure like flashy magic," Venerra scolded. "Do you know how much magic light and sounds take up? What's wrong with just plain disappearing?"

Freya just smiled. "Do you want the good news or not?"

"Good news?" Laurel asked, and she pulled on a tan pair of satin slippers.

"Yes. I've found you're replacement," She told Venerra. "She's young and pretty, with long black hair."

Quarr smiled. "Where is she?"

"Just give me a moment." There was another bang and flash.

"How's this?" Laurel twirled and kicked in a complicated dance.

"Don't kick so hard; you aren't playing football," Sian commented.

"And don't step so far. You'll get too close to the- the stars!" Venerra shouted in alarm as Laurel stomped on one of the perfect stars, transforming it into some scribbles and a footprint.

"Oops?" Laurel whimpered as everyone gave her lethal looks. "I'll get another drawing stick!" She ran off into the woods.

"Don't worry, I've already- oh, bother her!" Venerra scowled. She drew another star. Looking at Sian, she said, "You'll do the chanting of course. I'm not about to trust Laurel with my life."

The psychic Pokémon purred in agreement.

Suddenly Laurel ran back into camp screaming. "A ghost! A ghost!"

"Yeah, just like the 'ghost' you saw in the trinket shop." Sian rolled her eyes. "Who was it this time?"

"That kid you kicked off the cliff- Cinder or something."

Sian started to her feet. "It could be a ghost. People who fall of cliffs do sometimes become ghosts. But he could have survived the fall, in which case-"

"In which case our plan will work perfectly." Venerra smiled.

"Huh?" Brock said.

"I'm definitely alive, all right," Ash said.

"Ash! Go away!" Brock shouted.

"Huh?" Said Tracey. "I thought you wanted to be rescued. Everyone does."

Quarr laughed. "This is too easy!"

"Now the plan is complete," Sian purred.

Misty blinked.

"And what's going to stop us from leaving?" Ash demanded.

Venerra cackled. "I dare you to leave! I _dare _you!"

She held up her hands, magic causing them to glow. Sian's moonstone began to gleam, and Quarr's staff lit up.

_Stupid, stupid, stupid! _Ash thought.

"Your call," Quarr growled. "Will you run? Or will you stay?"

No one answered.

"Good children!" Venerra said, mimicking her daughter's syrupy tones. She put the light on her hands out but her husband and Pokémon still stood ready. She drew two more stars in the dirt. "Which one do you want, honey? You have three to choose from."

The mage looked critically at the boys, one by one. "I'd have to go with the oldest. He's obviously the best looking out of the bunch."

Brock grinned smugly. Ash and Tracey were completely outraged.

"Alright, here we go." Venerra steered each person to a star, saying, "You stand here or else."

"Now do we start?" Laurel asked, her voice reaching all new highs as she grew more and more anxious.

"Not yet," Sian hissed. "We have to wait for Freya."

"Hey! How come I don't have a star?" Tracey asked.

Venerra laughed. "You don't want a star, trust me. I don't know where you came from but our grudge is not against you. You may-"

She was interrupted by another bang as Freya appeared, her arms pretzeled around a squirming girl. The young woman looked like Mara's twin sister, except her hair was black and longer and her dress was sparkly white with silver snowflakes on it.

Freya half-threw the girl at the older woman. "Look at her. She's perfect."

Venerra's eyes lit up. "You're right; she is!"

"No I'm not, no I'm not!" The girl tried to break away.

"Cut that out right… now!" Sian hissed.

The girl froze, and then laughed very, very nervously. "Let's see- die helping you or die trying to get away?"

"Oh, we didn't say you'd die!" Sian purred. "No. We can do _much _worse than that."

The woman squeaked something that sounded slightly like, "Point taken."

"Die?" Ash asked. "What about dying?"

"Oh yes, did I forget to mention? You're all going to die." Sian casually remarked.

"Die?" Everyone under eighteen exclaimed.

"You didn't say _anything _about people dying!" Laurel shrieked. "You just said we were going to help mom and dad with their spell!"

"Who cares who dies as long as we get our way?" Venerra replied. "Like I always tell you, the ends-"

"Justify the means, I know…" Laurel's shoulders slumped.

"Start dancing," Sian commanded her owner. "Venerra, Quarr, take your places. Fryr ghetter osh en gris…" She closed her eyes as she started chanting. "Wyna wyna zeelophono eferodevon pelepopo tiki-tiki-tembo-no-sa-rembo-chari-bari-buchi-pip-peri-pembo."

Laurel danced crazily in a style no one recognized along with the rhythmic chant.

"Egnahc I dnammoc uoy! Egnahc! Egnahc! Eg- Unk!" She collapsed as she was struck on the head with a battle-ax.

"Pyra!" Snowflake-woman exclaimed excitedly, as though she was a little girl meeting her favorite movie star.

The fiery woman raised her ax again. "Where's Freya?"

Mara laid her ax against the purple-haired woman's neck. "How could you do this? How could you do it last time?"

Freya laughed. "I'd do it again in a minute! I could have had fire powers, I could have had water powers or ice powers, but no, I had to get stuck with metal just because I was born to the wrong person!"

"Sylvia practically worshiped you! And Ty was terrified of you!" Pyra shouted, advancing toward her villainous sister.

"Does that change anything I said?"

"No… not really…"

"Then I'll continue."

"No you won't!" Mara shouted. "Aquatigrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!" Her low growls made it sound like the fearsome beast was actually present.

"Fireeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeenix!" Pyra half-shrieked, after the manner of the bird.

Both of them turned toward possibly-Sylvia.

"Oh, all right. Go, Cyce." She said, completely unenthusiastic.

All three Pokémon leapt from the shadows.

But Quarr was ready for them.

* * *

It was all over in two seconds.

"No! No! No!" The girl in the white dress began sobbing hard. Mara reached for her stone Aquatiger and then pulled her hand away, brushing at her eye.

But Pyra, if anything, was madder. She started to scream out her Pokémon's name again, but Freya shushed her, saying, "Cry not for your little birds, lest you wish their fate to be like your first one."

"You wretched murderous traitor!" She attempted to lower her battle-ax on the so-called-goddess.

"Get off your high horse!" Freya shouted, stopping the ax by grabbing it.

"I've never ridden one in my life. You were born on one!" Pyra's leg knocked over her opponent's, and she lowered the pointed tip of her ax to Freya's neck. "Any last words?"

Freya laughed and seized the ax tip.

"'_But deserving greatest punishment,'"_

"'_Is destroying someone with their element'"_

Lightning flew up the ax, crackling bright blue. For a second, Pyra's hair stood on end. Then she collapsed.

"No!" Snowflake-woman shouted.

"Shut up, Sylvia." Freya walked over to Sian, who had woken up and was trying to get to her feet. "Are you okay?"

Sian nodded. "Yes, yes. But let's continue."

"I still don't have a star!" Tracey whined.

Ash could have killed him.

"We don't need you!" Venerra shouted. "Just go- draw something- or something- just go! Do whatever you want!"

"Thank you. I will." Tracey left into Tyrren forest.

"Keep chanting! Keep chanting!" Quarr urged.

Freya looked approvingly at Pyra's limp body. "One down-" She pointed at Sylvia- "One in progress. Mara, you're next!"

Mara acted relatively unconcerned. She walked over to the waterfall and scooped up a handful. Then she knelt near it and seemed to whisper to it. Finally, she blew into her handful of water, creating a bubble that floated gracefully through the air. While Venerra and Sian discussed where they'd left off, Quarr watched the bubble bounce without breaking off tree branches and the ground, ending up near Pikachu, where it popped against the electric Pokémon's ear. Pikachu could hear Mara's voice whisper, as though she was next to him, "Create some form of electricity and keep it there. That will cause their magic to stop working."

"I saw that!" Quarr shouted, firing magic at Pikachu.

"Pikachu!" Ash shouted, as his beloved Pokémon was petrified.

"You'll get over it," Venerra said. "Dead men feel no pain."

"Tell no tales," Brock said.

"Huh?"

"The saying goes, 'dead men tell no tales'"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"It's the correct way to say it."

"You're just trying to delay the inevitable!" Sian shouted. "Egnahc!"

* * *

Tracey stopped and thought, an activity he had not practiced in a long time. It hurt. But he remembered Pyra shouting for the Fireonixes- could he imitate the same call?

"Fire eeeeeeeeee-cough-cough-cough…" Tracey broke off.

"Are you dying?" A bird in a nearby tree called out.

"No, that's everyone else's department…" Tracey sighed.

"What's that supposed to mean?" A fiery bird, like a Fireonix but smaller, glided down from a tree.

"Wait- you're talking?"

"Yes, I taught myself. Not that I need to know how… Pyra's the only person who bothers to talk to Firecons (FY-er-COLN), and she already understood me to begin with. Who are you and who's dying?"

"I'm Tracey Sketchit."

"Is that your name or your job?"

"Um… Both. Never noticed that. And my friends are dying and Pyra's already dead."

"Pyra? Dead? Really? Or did it just look like she died?"

"How should I know? As far as I know, she's dead."

"How'd she die?"

"Freya killed her."

"I mean _what _killed her, not _who_."

"Um, lightning I guess."

"Then she didn't die; she's probably just stunned. She's immune to fire."

"Really? Are you sure?"

"Sure I'm sure. I've seen her shoot fire out of her hands; she sorta has to be immune to fire to do that."

"I guess you're right."

"Well, let me think… if I can get enough friends together, maybe we could stage a rescue mission. You up for it?"

"I guess so."

"Grab my talons. I may be small but I'm real strong."

"But they're on fire. I'm not immune like Pyra."

"It'll only burn you if I want it to. It's magical fire."

"Okay. Here we go_woah_!"

* * *

Laurel's dance became more of a pace. She was nervous- no, anxious- and she wished the whole thing was over with. She had never thought about killing anyone- transforming people seemed like the gentle way to do it. I wasn't cut out to be a villain, Laurel thought. But it's too late to do anything about it.

Or was it?

* * *

"Down that way," Tracey urged the flock of Firecons. The small group swooped toward the clearing, wondering if anyone would make it out alive.

* * *

Mara knew Pyra wasn't dead. She could see the Firecons coming and wondered how she would help in this daring rescue. Catching Sylvia's glance, she flashed her hand at her, with all the fingers up but the ring finger. Sylvia nodded. That was the signal to do the combined attack they'd practiced all those years of hiding in the forest.

* * *

Laurel stopped dancing, concentrating on what she was about to do. She had only one shot, and it had to be- dang, Freya moved out of range- got to focus- got to focus…

Then she started dancing again, but with a different style. Sorceresses used their hands and their voices to concentrated- why not feet?

Sian stopped mid-chant and yawned, collapsing to the ground.

"Wha-" Venerra started, and then fell asleep too.

Quarr resisted for a second, but soon drifted off to dreamland.

"Huh?" Freya spun around. Only one thing could have caused them to fall asleep so quickly- magic.

"Hey! Over here!" Mara shot a stream of water from her hands, but it missed by a long shot and hit Sylvia instead.

"Nice shot!" Freya said sarcastically, laughing.

As the stream hit the young woman, it froze into a solid pole. She cracked it over Freya's head, knocking her out.

"Not bad!" Pyra said, getting up.

"I feel so left out," Ash said. "Wait- you're alive?"

Instead of answering, Pyra shot a ball of fire from her hand.

"Mario imitator!" Tracey shouted, as Firecon placed him on the ground.

"Wait a second!" Misty said. "Before we take off…" She pulled out the Akku Amulet. "…There are some things we need to fix." She fired at Pikachu.

"I'm doing nothing!" Ash continued to whine. "Oh, wait- Pikachu! I missed you-"

"-For the five minutes you were gone…" Brock said. "Come on, Ash, before they wake up!"

Misty turned towards Laurel. "Do you want to come with us?"

Laurel laughed nervously. "Why would I want to come with you? I'm a villain, remem-"

"Yeah, right," Pyra said. "Face it; you're an 'outlaw', just like me and Mara and Sylvia."

"I don't want to be an outlaw!"

"You don't really have much of a choice. Come with us or face Sian's wrath when she wakes up."

"I pick option one."

"What were they planning to do, anyway?" Ash asked while Misty turned Fireonix back.

"Don't ask me!" Laurel said. "No one tells me anything; I'm just the empty-headed accessory!"

"Judging by the five pointed stars, and they way they were talking, I would guess a life transfer. It's like a Tikikiki attack, only more so." Pyra explained.

"What? That would have killed us?" Brock asked.

"In all probability, it wouldn't have killed you or Sylvia, since you were the people actually trading lives. But Ash and Misty were 'emergency batteries' which means, well… People's souls contain magic, and magic is what you need to accomplish a life transfer… However in order to access the magic, you have to separate the soul from the body… which is most easily done by killing the victim. And then they planned to kill… well, their old bodies… to avoid witnesses…" Mara trailed off, then leapt on the back of her Aquatiger. "We'd better go."

"But why would they want to do something like that?" Misty asked.

"Think!" Pyra shouted. "Why do Tikikikis swap minds with people?"

"To annoy the heck out of them?" Ash guessed.

"No! To gain the advantages there are to be had when you're a human, for example. What would Venerra and Quarr gain from such an action?"

"Youth?" Brock guessed.

"Exactly- although in Venerra's case she'd actually get older, since we're all some thousand years old," Mara smirked.

"Then Freya really is James' great-great-whatever grandmother?" Ash asked.

"As far as I can tell," Pyra mused.

"Would that make him- I don't know- part-god?" Ash winced.

Pyra laughed. "Freya's not a goddess; she just likes to call herself that. She probably would like to rule the world. Sometimes she is so immature."

"Um? Guys?" Sylvia whimpered. "Shouldn't we be leaving… say… now?"

"I'm not like that, am I?" Laurel asked.

"Only too much," Tracey joked.

"How would you know? I don't even know who you are!"

"Take a joke for crying out loud!"

"One last thing," Pyra said. "I mentioned, sort of, how Freya tried to kill us? Well, she tried to do it with… let's just call it a bomb, which was stupid. She made it so powerful that instead of killing me and my sisters it just sent us to a different dimension. We've been hanging on to a vague hope that it did the same for our brothers and other sister, as well. You travel more than us. Could you perhaps keep an eye out for them?"

"Sure," Ash said. "What do they look like?"

"I really couldn't be sure. It's been so long, and, well, there are other reasons." Mara blushed. "But you can recognize them by the necklace/thong they wear around their neck." She pulled out her necklace from where it was hiding behind her dress. The charm hanging from it was a real drop of water, magically suspended on her necklace. Pyra's was a fiery feather. Sylvia's was a snowflake.

"Freya should be wearing one with a metal teardrop on it," Sylvia interjected, "But she doesn't like being one of us."

"Our brother Ty has a charm of a rock shaped like a leaf," Pyra explained. "Velo's charm is, well… if you can imagine a small but powerful wind chasing itself in a circle around the string… that's what his looks like. Cumulo has a cloud charm. Finally, our sister Andice has a glowing ball of light on her necklace."

"We'll keep a look-out," Brock said.

"One last thing." Mara pulled out a bronze disk with strange writing on it. "This is so old fashioned, but if you ever need us, just throw this against the ground. It'll send a signal to us. It has other powers too… but those are more complicated and we all should get going before everyone wakes up."

* * *

"No matter what you say, I'm _not _going home," Firecon informed Tracey. "You probably wouldn't last a second without me."

"Fine. Whatever. I shall humbly submit to being baby-sat by a little bird." Tracey held up his first drawing made with his brand-new sketchpad and pencils. "How do you like it?"

"It's okay, I guess," Brock said. "So… does this mean we're a team of four now?"

"It totally disobeys all natural laws," Ash said.

"You know what?" Misty said. "I don't care."

"Just mentioning," Ash said.

"Ash?" Misty asked.

"What?"

"Do you think that's the last we'll see of Freya?"

"Probably," Ash said. "She hasn't made contact with James before; she's not likely to now."

"I guess."

Ah, how ignorant heroes can be sometimes.


End file.
